1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lifter, and more particularly to a washing machine that includes a lifter capable of removing and discharging foreign matter from water while agitating laundry.
2. Description of the Related Art
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a conventional front-loading type washing machine is known to include lifters formed on an inner surface of the drum to lift and drop laundry within the drum during a rotation of the drum.
For example, the conventional washing machine includes a cabinet 2, an opening 1 formed at a front side of the cabinet 2, and a tub 4 disposed inside the opening 1 and configured to contain water supplied from the outside. In addition, a drum 3 is rotatably mounted in the tub 4 and configured to receive laundry and detergent, a motor 6 is connected to a rotational shaft of the drum 3 and mounted behind the tub 4, and a suspension 8 is disposed between an inner wall of the cabinet 2 and an outer wall of the tub 4 to allow the tub 4 to move in a certain range inside the cabinet 2.
The drum 3 is arranged to open in the same direction as the cabinet 2 and the tub 4, and a horizontally disposed rotational shaft 7 of the motor 6 is mounted to a rear outer wall of the drum 3. Here, the shaft 7 of the motor 6 is provided at one end with a tripod-shaped spider 9, which is fastened to the rear outer wall of the drum 3.
When the motor 6 is operated, the drum 3 is driven to rotate around the horizontal shaft 7 to perform a washing operation.
The drum 3 includes a plurality of lifters 5 that protrude from an inner wall of the drum 3 toward the center of rotation to raise and drop laundry during rotation of the drum 3, thereby increasing agitation of the laundry and improving the washing effect of the washing machine.
Each of the lifters 5 is horizontally elongated on the inner wall of the drum 3 and protrudes toward the center of rotation such that laundry can be raised by the lifters 5 within the drum 3 during the rotation of the drum 3, thereby increasing the agitation of the laundry.
In the conventional washing machine, however, the lifters 5 provide a simple function of increasing the agitation of the laundry. However, if the laundry includes a great amount of foreign matter, there is a problem in that some of foreign matter cannot be completely removed from the laundry and remain therein even after the washing operation.
In this regard, it should be noted that the above description is illustrated only for understanding the background of the invention and does not form a conventional technique that is well-known to those skilled in the art.